#vision sunday

[robertdensmore]

One of the statements of St Saviours vision is 'Living in the fullness of God'. Belinda Thomas explores what this means in the life of the church, using the parable of the prodigal son. [Belinda Thomas speaks on John 1:16]

[robertdensmore]

This is Vision Sunday at St Saviours. It focuses on God's calling for this church, in this season, in this place. Join us as we come together as a church family to live out the 5 statements that make up our calling. [Rob Densmore talks on 2 Corinthians 3:7-18]

[melinedisney]

Sunday 6.0

This is a late update. Sunday 6.0//Vision Sunday//Feb 14th 

[hillsong]

VISION SUNDAY is this weekend! Don’t miss our global vision presentation with Pastor Brian Houston! http://hillsong.com

[theimaginariemuse]

My awesome God-honouring team! You can see me in the choir. :) OUR CHURCH! It's a new season in the life of my church, God has moved, is moving and will continue to move. He can do more than we can imagine! Dare to have the wildest dreams because God can move mountains.

[parksidechurch]

Visit Original Link

January 11, 2015 / Pastor Clint Nelson.  Taking our cues from Galatians 6:8 we see that loving God in the little things will grow into really big good things. Visit www.sowtothespirit.ca to see updates and resources on this subject.

[occupytheory]

2/2/14 - Pioneer Again (Vision Sunday)

11AM at Manhattan Center

Pastor Brian Houston via video link.

Pioneer Again

Pioneers don't know what they're going to discover. That's the point.

Dr. Victor Cheng was in the early 80s, a heart surgery pioneer but in '91 he was murdered in an extortion attempt, but he was a pioneer.

New Zealand was discovered by a Dutch pioneer named Able Tesmond, who discovered Mauritius - a tiny little drop in the India Ocean, he discovered Tasmania, but he missed the largest island in the world: Mainland Australia.

But Able didn't stop pioneering, and eventually he found the northwest coast of Australia. If you don't have the pioneering spirit, we may never know until eternity, the big things that God has in store.

In 1977, Brian's parents came to a hall in Australia and started Eastern Suburbs Christian Life Center and then Brian started Hills Christian Life Center later, and eventually Hillsong emerged from there.

Recent days have been miraculous, who woulda known what big things would come from that tiny hall?

Well, we're not stopping pioneering because there's big things in store all around the globe, wherever it is God has put us. There's big things in store in LA!

Listen to the definition of a pioneer: a person who's the first to settle into a region to develop it for occupation and use for others. Pioneering isn't for yourself, it's for others.

Maybe there's been a long lineage of abuse, alcoholism, something that's crippled the family, well through Jesus you can pioneer a new day for your family. You can be a pioneer in your home, in your faith, when it comes to the spiritual things God wants to do you in your life.

2nd definition of a pioneer is the first or the earliest in any field of enterprise or progress. The New Testament, the book of Acts, the acts of the apostles, it's like a snapshot trailer for a movie. Acts 1:8 gives us a preview of what's ahead for the New Testament church. It says that you'll receive power and be Christ's witnesses to the ends of the Earth.

Acts is the story of a bunch of pioneers who took the gospel throughout previously uncharted territory.

1. A pioneer takes territory previously considered uninhabitable and makes it habitable.

The gospel goes into uninhabited places. Phillip took the gospel into Samaria, full of Samaritans whom were considered compromised outsider Jews.

So when Phillip went into Samaria, he went to those considered the least ripe for the gospel. And talk about going to the Gentiles - who didn't even care about the gospel! The gospel went there.

2. A pioneer reaches the unreachable and includes the excluded.

If you look at these verses, the first three single converts that are mentioned as the gospel goes from Jerusalem outwards, the first one is a wizard named Simon, the second is an Ethiopian eunuch and the third one was an outright religious terrorist: Saul.

How's that for a front row in church? You got a guy with astrology cards in his hards, a guy who has sexual identity issues and a terrorist there!

Well, our church has always been about whosoever will come to the gospel. It's amazing how Hillsong has seemed to thrive in places considered hard and resistant to the gospel. So wonderful if you just trust God.

Hillsong was the third church that Brian and Bobbie were asked to start. The congregation was in disarray and there were only three old ladies there.

They had plastic flowers covered in dust and two of the old ladies left when they took away those flowers!

Well, that church became Inspire church and it's still around and thriving in Australia. God can take you broken and turn you into something awesome.

You have to include the excluded as well.

3. A pioneer sings a song that is music to the uninitiated but clanging brass to the establishment.

Phillip went to Samaria and preached Christ to them and the multitudes there saw the miracles and healings there, and there was great joy. Talks about this in Acts.

Not everyone was happy though. In Acts 6 where it talks about the multitudes of people connecting with Christ, some disunity crept in and some Jews were worried that the widows were being neglected.

Some from the Synagogue of the Free Men disputed with the Apostle Stephen. These were slaves who came into freedom. When it comes into pioneering, often times its those who encounter previous grace who lose sight of what God is doing with new grace.

Let's never be people who can take what God has done previously in our life and ignore the new things he's doing.

You can encounter grace and not recognize what God is doing today.

4. A pioneer defies the odd and pioneers again, bringing longevity to the season.

Years ago, a friend of Brian's, a pastor, said that Hillsong's success would only last a season, but so far it's lasted 25 years and still the doors are opening wider and territory is expanding.

The reason its had longevity is because they didn't stop pioneering with what it looked like in 1995, but they kept doing new things - Hillsong United and now Young and Free.

With the spirit of a pioneer, it brings longevity to your season. You should never stop being filled with innovation.

The Apostle Stephen's name meant "winner" and Peter's meant "rock" and Phillip's meant "lovers of horses." It's usually little girls that want horses! He's just an ordinary person, not a winner or a rock, just an ordinary guy whom God could use to something God.

God uses ordinary people doing ordinary things. Phillip was one of seven meant to serve table, distribute food, keep the peace, and that's what he did. God used him to reach a city ultimately, to bring the gospel to an African Eunich, the first African expansion of the gospel.

Hillsong is full of ordinary people committed to doing ordinary things that God uses in an extraordinary way.

The spirit of a pioneer is the power of the Holy Spirit, that ye shall be witnesses. Maybe you love that thought until you realize that it implies martyrdom.

It cost Stephen his life. To Bobbie and Brian, church has been their life and it continues to be their life. People put their lives into it. What God has been able to do with us collectively is simply miraculous.

For the first few weeks of Hillsong's existence, no one was giving their heart to Christ and church just got smaller and smaller.

Then one Sunday, Brian was 29 and silly, and right where he preached were two gymnastic ropes. He grabbed one of those ropes and swung out over the crowd and swung back again kept preaching.

There was one guy there named Kata who said to his friends, "You gotta come to this church, the pastor there swings like a monkey!" He brought 30 people over the next 3 weeks and most of them became Christians! He was killed later in an accident. God didn't kill him but the fruit of his life is still growing.

Since then, there hasn't been a Sunday where no one gives their lives to Jesus. We should live our lives so that the fruit of our lives lives far beyond us. That's the spirit of a pioneer.

[hillsong]

VISION SUNDAY 2014